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October 12, 2011

If I had to pick my two most favorite months of the year in Charleston it would be October and February. The humidity finally drops some in October, giving us the ability to enjoy being out without suffocating. I sneak in any moment I can feeling the tall grass under my feet. I also spend more time than usual at the dock watching the porpoises huddle and play now that less boats are out now that summer is over.

February is just magical here. The light is crisp and electric. The cold finally reaches us for a few days and we gather friends around the fireplace. I love the cold nippy winds that we get for a few days. A barely there couple of weeks of wintry weather.

Lately, while the temperatures are still hot enough to have us in short sleeves and flip flops, the numerous rain showers and stronger winds put me in a definite Fall-ish mood. One that calls for hot soups and warm apple crisps.

This Acorn Squash and Sweet Potato Soup is one of those I want to have on repeat this Fall and Winter. It's been decided by both Bill and myself after the first couple of spoons. Not only was it tasty, it was also the kind that does not need much else but a nice piece of country bread smeared with a dab of butter and sprinkle of grey salt.

The table setting was fun and the company engaging. In our proper form, Bill and I made fast friends with the couple next to us, visiting Charleston on their anniversary. They had just stepped into the bookstore a few hours prior to the event, completely on a whim and purchased a couple of tickets for that dinner. They did not know the book or Virginia but they "got" the spontaneity that defines Charleston.

Why celebrating Virginia in person in Charleston? Because the book was photographed here. In my studio to be exact and also on our dock where we had Virginia hold a very fiesty crab at sunset. The crew gathered in my home for 10 days and we got to work on some pretty delicious recipes. Curried Chicken Wings with Peach Dipping Sauce. Endive and Roquefort Slaw. Louisiana Duck Gumbo. Meringue Pillows with Strawberries and Cream.

Sunday's dinner showcased some of my favorites such as the Roasted Tomato Soup and the Chocolate Monkey Bread and new ones like the Garlic and Sausage Stuffed Pork Loin. Most importantly, it gave me a chance to congratulate Virginia on her hard work and dedication to develop and write recipes so that people like me, get the chance to convey emotions and visions one level deeper.

I have been blessed to work with pretty special cookbook authors and their publishers these last few years and each time. This project where a whole team came together, fierce with dedication and love and pride of their work, made me grow as an artist and as a person. I walked away with a greater love of my profession as photographer. A greater dedication also. And let's face it, hundreds of new favorite recipes...!

Virginia's recipes are no different. They completely speak to me. Virginia has the perfect ability to balance her formal French training as a chef with her Southern roots. A little irreverence against ennui thrown in for good measure and you have the perfect blend: a cookbook compiling easy and intermediate recipes, interesting and fun and with a Brilliant twist that is worth exploring each time.

Take her Sweet Potato Soup for example. The basic recipe is pretty darn tasty as it is if you ask me. A blend of sweet potatoes, Vidalia onions, thyme and curry. The "brilliant" possibility? A dollop of rum spiked whipped cream. Yep. And that my friends, is indeed brilliant. It absolutely makes you smile... I did vary mine a bit by adding acorn squash and sprinkling a bit of thyme and cracked black pepper on ours too. Recipes are canvas for you to enjoy your time in the kitchen and Virginia's are perfect for that.

When I was growing up, each meal would start with a bowl of soup. Nothing fancy. My mom would make the tastiest soups from the simplest vegetable combinations. Zucchini, onion, pumpkin, carrots, turnips. The quantity for each varied every single time which made the soup slightly different every time also. She learned that from her mother. She passed it on to me.

I carried that tradition a little further by making soups that my grandmother would surely dubbed as "fancy" if she were still alive. I never grew up with single ingredient soups beside Soupe a l'Oignon. Always a mix. Even our family trademark, Soupe Au Pistou is a medley of Provencal fragrances.

Nowadays, I am usually drawn to soups where one ingredients really shines. Mushroom soup, roasted tomato soup, pumpkin soup, smoked corn soup, this crazy good lima bean bisque from my pal Tami. The multi ingredient ones I now stir are some we never made when I was a kid, such as Pho, Tom Yum, Avgolemono.

And this fragrant and silky Acorn Squash & Sweet Potato Soup. I could not let go of my DNA apparently and had to throw in another ingredient! Acutally, I picked up gorgeous mini acorn squash at the farmers market as well as a myriad of other vegetable and I have to cook the majority before my upcoming trips to Kansas City and Seattle this week.

This soup is good company. A warm bowl of soul and a whole lot of comfort.

Directions:Preheat the oven to 375F.Cut the acorn squash in halves. Place them in a baking dish, drizzle with one teaspoon olive oil and roast for about 20-30 minutes. Let cool. Peel the skin off and reserve the flesh.Heat the remaining tablespoon oil in a large heavy soup pot set over medium high heat. Add the onion and curry powder and cook until the onion is almost translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, stock, maple syrup, thyme and nutmeg and the flesh from the acorn squash.Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs. Let the soup cool a little.Puree the soup until smooth with an immersion blender or a blender/food processor.Reheat the soup before serving and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Add the rum and lemon zest and continue whipping until firm. Use a dollop on top of the soup and sprinkle with fresh thyme and chopped thyme.

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comments:

What a great post...and the photos. Your photos always speak to me, but as I look at these I am just drawn in...sooo much. The orange soup, the white table with the rustic paint chips and light distressing, the utensils...oh what I wouldn't give to just watch you in action, live, one day :)

Helene, This is wonderful. As someone cooking and blogging about it in Alabama, I agree that fall is wonderfully atmospheric in the South! Given the flavors in the soup, you might like this acorn squash with goat cheese and herbed walnut candy that I made recently-it was the single best thing I have eaten in months. It's at http://eggton.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/squash/.

This soup looks and sounds amazing. I'm excited about Acorn squash right now...too excited...I bought 6 of them and now I know what I'm doing with a few....Thanks! May even incorporate this in my Comfort Foods series of classes...but will of course give Chef Virginia and her book credit. So good to see a woman of a certain age (my age that is!) is chef whites and getting recognition! Go Virginia!

My mother and my grandmother always made soups the same way, using the same ingredients but each day with a different twist.This soup looks delish and the photos are fantastic. Congrats for such a beautiful work:))

Oh! As always, your photos are so inspiring to me. And that soup! I'm going to have to make it soon, as it is slowly getting more fall-like right here in my corner of Virginia. Might need the book too!

Ah! what an orangey, autumny soup.. it is so comforting right off the computer screen..Having seen you in action, I now totally imagine how you must have gone about setting up the props and worked on the seasonings, esp your keen eye for detail..Grey really lets the orange color of the soup shine through. Every photograph of yours is a huge window of learning Helene!To add, love all your props, the wobbly shaped bowls and plates are unique and I simply adore copperware too..That (half torn?) cup seems to be your favorite, see it a lot, curious to know what it is?

I'll have to take a look at her cookbook. I am so drawn to french food but also grew up in Louisiana so cajun food is in my blood. This book would probably be a really good one for me. Congratulations on the project. Amazing work.

I love acorn squash soup! I first had it a decade ago, and it totally transformed the way I thought about squashes. I look forward to fall and all the squash soups, butternut in particular. Your pictures look amazing; I'd like to slurp some up right now!

My mother-in-law brought me 2 butternut and 2 small acorn squash the other day and once i saw this recipe I knew the acorn squash were destined for this. I changed it up a bit. I chopped up some bacon and cooked it in the pan first. Pulled the bacon out to drain once done then added the onions and followed the recipe (using chicken stock). After the soup was done i then added a dollop of creme fraiche to the bowls and crumbled up a little bacon and put on top also.. little salt.. little pepper.. FANTASTIC! Thanks for the inspiration to make soup! Hope you had a good time in KC! It was a nice day however just chilly enough here to call for soup!

Hello, I just found this post via Pinterest and am DYING to know about the dishes used to shoot this soup. If you know who they are made by I would love to know. I have been looking everywhere for dishes like this. Thank you so much, I love your blog so much, read it all the time!

It is fun to learn more about Virginia & her book. The rum cream is very intriguing. I never would have thought to do something like that. Love that portrait of Virginia. She looks like such a vibrant woman!Can't wait to get my hands on this for the recipes and your photos :)

I made this, using butternut squash in lieu of acorn, and it was fantastic! My husband, who thinks it's not a meal without meat, loved it too. Definitely a keeper! Your photos are always such a treat - beautiful, beautiful.